One title that many people might not think of when battle royale comes to mind is Rare’s Sea of Thieves. The pirate adventure certainly has a few aspects that could make sense for the popular game mode to make an appearance, but it definitely isn’t at the top of the list. While the devs aren’t dipping into the battle royale waters just yet, they recently discussed how they would go about doing so.

“I think last year we said every sail on the horizon will always be a real player ship,” design director Mike Chapman recently told Game Informer. “Players started asking for skeleton ships, and we said, “Let’s give it to them.”” Studio head Craig Duncan added to this, saying, “Players said, “Ship combat is awesome. We’d like to take on a galleon of skeletons,” so we changed that.”

“People also said it would be cool if we expanded the world, so we’ve expanded the world, but we’ve done it, and we made the gameplay fundamentally different in Devil’s Roar for Forsaken Shores,” Chapman continued. “What you’re going to see, as we do the content updates beyond Forsaken Shores – we’re going to do three more this year and beyond with the way we’ve set up our teams to create a steady flow of content. You’ll see a mix of us responding with laser focus to players’ feedback and things that are going to surprise people.” We like surprises.

Chapman then added, “I think there are so many examples of content in the game where we’re like, we always talk about the death mechanics and we turned it into the ghost ship. We put a Sea of Thieves spin on a familiar mechanic with new and interesting takes. We see the battle royale thing, but I think there will be opportunities to do that kind of thing differently. It’s interesting where you can take PvP in the game, but we’d want to put a unique Sea of Thieves spin on it and do something completely surprising.”

“It’s not about taking something that works super well in another game, and going, “Hey, let’s start everyone in a Sea of Thieves map from different points and have you all come together,”” said Duncan. It’s good to see that the devs at Rare are looking at this with open eyes. Instead of jumping on the bandwagon, they’re watching it roll by, planning what to do with the information they’re learning. We can get on board with that mindset.

Even though it’s unlikely we’ll see battle royale make it to the salty Sea of Thieves anytime soon (or at all), you can currently enjoy the game on PC and Xbox One. Keep it tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers as this story develops, and for other gaming goodness going on right now, check out the following:

• Dragon Age: BioWare Is Still “Figuring Out” The Next Step (VIDEO)
• Resident Evil 2 Is “Not A Remake” – The Devs Explain Why
• New SoulCalibur VI Gameplay Shows Off Geralt, Ivy, Taki, & More! (VIDEO)

What say you, gamers? Would you be down for some battle royale action in Sea of Thieves? What do you believe Rare could do to make the experience truly unique? Sound off in the comments section below, and be sure to follow DFTG on Twitter for live gaming and entertainment news 24/7!